John 16:24 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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John 16:24

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Finally, we have the great promise of joy. Up till now you have ye asked nothing in my name, because you have been able to ask me, says Christ in effect. ‘Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.’ So much of our assurance comes from answered prayer. The joy of the Christian is made complete and full by answers to prayer. Often, somehow, this is left out when we are teaching and explaining assurance - the certainty that Christians have. You will find that the usual route is to say assurance is both an internal and an external matter. You observe the graces within, that is to say the evidence of conversion in your own heart, and that gives you assurance and certainty, and then there is a directly imparted assurance. So we like to discuss assurance theologically in these ways, but we forget that a great component of assurance is answered prayer, and of course the more you need to pray, the more you will receive answers, and the more you will be assured.

Application

So let us take a theological, well-educated Christian, who reads the Scriptures, reads good books, worships and so on, but doesn’t do anything for the Lord, and has no great life of service for him. That is a major department, the mission of Christ about which we will pray: for our pupils in the Sunday School, for our relatives, for people for whom we are witnessing, our street work, whatever it is. As we pray, we will be strengthened, we will receive answers. Don’t you know, says the Lord, that that is one of the major ways that I communicate certainty and assurance, simply by answered prayer? So the theoretical Christian may be sound and he may be sincere, but he is not engaged in anything for which he needs to pray, and will therefore lose a large amount of assurance and joy. We need to take this extremely seriously.

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John 16:24 Commentary and Bible Study